What’s a podcast app and why should I give a shit?

There’s an enormous disparity between my geek friends and my literary friends when it comes to how they listen to podcasts. While my geek friends argue over the subtle quirks between their seven favorite podcast apps (aka podcatcher, aka podcast client), quite a few of my literary friends don’t know what the hell a podcast app is. And when they do listen to a podcast episode, they do it by going to a website from a browser on their computer and clicking play.

I want to change this.

Not the part about us geeks arguing over trivial features – no one can stop that, it’s a force of nature – but I want stop this method of playing podcast episodes from the browser. There is a better way, and you’ll be able to discover and hear so much amazing stuff if you learn this one thing from the geeks. Here’s a little video I made for those who want to learn a few reasons why podcast apps are useful. It also contains a tutorial for an easy way to get started for free if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch. Even if you don’t have one of those snooty devices, the basic premise is the same with another smart phone or a computer.

WARNING: This is a seven-minute presentation/tutorial meant for a newbie podcast listener. Also, it isn’t (yet) full of jokes… just a few of them in there…

It’s not the most polished thing I’ve ever done, but I hope it helps at least one person.

Next Guest: Harold Johnson

In related news: Sorry that I’m a little delayed with the next podcast episode, but I’m excited to say that the next guest is Harold Johnson. He is a poet, novelist, writer, teacher, editor, and plenty of other things. This episode is a little bit different than previous episodes because I wanted to hear about his childhood. He grew up as part of one of the few African American families in Yakima, Washington in the 1930s and 1940s. Wow. I wanted to hear some of his stories. And I hope you’ll listen to them too.